D&D 5E Forgotten Realms Deities

[Pragmatic]

I've browsed through the FR Adventurer's Guide, trying to find out what happened to some of my favorite deities (e.g., while Lathander was my favorite in 1E-3.5E, I was horrified to see him turn into Amaunator in 4E; but as time went on, I chose to view Amaunator/Lathander as a dual-aspect deity, representing the order of Amaunator and the vigor of Lathander).

There's not really that much detail beyond "yes, this god died in the Time of Troubles, but now they're back; what, why are you surprised?"

So is there someplace they talk about this some more?

 

[Valdier]

I'm not sure why you were horrified, Lathandar was original Amaunator before he became Lathandar. There are entire novel series that talk about these events, but you are probably best going to the FR Wiki.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

[pukunui]

So is there someplace they talk about this some more?

Not really. I think they've deliberately left a lot of that stuff vague so people can come up with their own reasons.

 

[Pragmatic]

I'm not sure why you were horrified, Lathandar was original Amaunator before he became Lathandar.

I was first introduced to the Forgotten Realms back in the "grey box" days of 1st edition. Lathander was a major god, Amaunator... I don't think Amaunator was even mentioned, not until they got to FR13 (Anauroch)?

I only really got to learn anything about Amaunator in the Arcane Age - Netheril supplement.

We went from a little known about Lathander, and at best a mention of Amaunator, to a fully-fleshed out Lathander and an interesting footnote on Amaunator, to some heresy that Amaunator had turned into Lathander... to Amaunator ripping his way out of Lathander (like Bane ripped his way out of Xvim).

But like I said, I've interpreted it in my own way. From the old "Book of the Righteous" (Green Ronin Press, IIRC), deities are shown as having multiple aspects, depending on the worshiper. So I started viewing Lathander/Amaunator as a dual-aspected deity. Both sides of the debate were right, they both represent the same deity, but just different facets of his character.

 

[LordEntrails]

I don't know if the FR gods mess will ever be sorted. I simple just go by what's in the 5E PHB and try not to think about what they were last time.

IMO, a lot of this turmoil comes with the comings and going and comings of Ed.

 

[Mirtek]

There's a novels about it, "The Reaver", which follows a chosen of Lathander.

Lathander becomes Aumanator when he believes the world needs order and stability the most and turns back into Lathander when he believes the world needs hope and New beginings the most.

Bis mortal churches are not so stoked about that though. Before the spell plague when he was becomming Aumanator the church of Lathander branded anyone proclaiming this as heretic. In " The Reaver" the chosen of Lathander is captured by the church if Aumanator doing the same. And him proving bis powers are legit only angers the high priest if Aumanator even more

 

[Staffan]

IMO, a lot of this turmoil comes with the comings and going and comings of Ed.

I get the feeling that the 4e setting discussion at Wizards went something like this:

- So, here's what we think an ideal D&D setting should look like (essentially Nentir Vale).
- OK. But we're doing Forgotten Realms though.
- What? But that doesn't match the stuff in the rules at all? There's no ancient tiefling empire, they've never heard of Dragonborn, and no-one ever heard of a high elf bamfing?
- Yeah, but FR has way more brand recognition than D&D these days.
- But... we think dragonborn paladins are awesome!
- Well, they pretty much are, but we have to make Forgotten Realms. And it has to work with the new rules.
- Well, the only thing we can do then is to change everything about it to match them.
- Awesome idea! Do that.

And thus the setting was nuked and re-paved.

 

[JohnLynch]

So is there someplace they talk about this some more?

There's really nowhere that covers this. Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide largely just covers the worshipers and currently there are worshipers of Amaunator and Lathander. How that's resolved is entirely up to the DM. If you want a hardline "this is canon" answer though, after the Time of Troubles when many of the gods died, other gods who picked up their portfolio continued to answer prayers directed to the dead god for a time. There's no reason you can't explain the continued prayers to dead gods being answered in this way.

Personally I don't think this needs answering and unless they really ramp up the output of the Forgotten Realms supplements I wouldn't want to see pages wasted on this in a D&D supplement. There's enough prior info for DMs to work out most of what happened. As for how the dead gods returned, the only explanation I know of is Mystra was dispersed in the Weave. When the parts of her power (embedded into her Chosen) was used to restore the Weave she was able to coalesce and become whole again. She then went and rescued Azuth from hell. Beyond that I think most dead being returned are explained as the Tablets of Fate restoring them.

Here's a question though: How many gods were 100% definitely killed? All I know of is a couple of drow deities and Mystra. Azuth remained alive (but had his divine power sucked out of him and was trapped in hell). The rest were maybe half a dozen "these two gods were actually one and the same" (which can be seen as propaganda by the more powerful church that successfully converted another churches worshipers) while some others (like Oghma) simply went missing or others were simply unmentioned.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

So is there someplace they talk about this some more?

There's talk on the whole Aumanator/Lathander/Myrkul tripartite deity business at The Candlekeep forums. Search around a bit via Google.

The idea of the tripartite deity has been around in the published Realms for awhile. It's something I used years before the Three Faced Sun heresy was introduced into the setting.

 

[Irennan]

The SCAG merely says that the Sundering (i.e. Ao rewriting the Tablets of Fate) brought back the various dead gods, and then provides a list, but --as others said-- there really isn't an extensive discussion anywhere. Some gods have been confirmed to be back in other places (novels, or Ed's answers, for example). Helm, Mask, Mystra and Lathander get their own novels (The Sentinel, The Godborn, The Elminster line, and the Reaver respectively); Bhaal gets and adventure; Eilistraee and Vhaeraun have been talked about by Ed, and their return is confirmed or implied in a couple novels as well (in Spellstorm it is said that Mystra is currently sharing the Weave with Eilistraee, Vhaeraun gets a chosen in The Adversary). Perhaps more info will be revealed in future novels, but in sourcebooks I wouldn't expect more than ''they're back''.

Here's a question though: How many gods were 100% definitely killed? All I know of is a couple of drow deities and Mystra. Azuth remained alive (but had his divine power sucked out of him and was trapped in hell). The rest were maybe half a dozen "these two gods were actually one and the same" (which can be seen as propaganda by the more powerful church that successfully converted another churches worshipers) while some others (like Oghma) simply went missing or others were simply unmentioned.

Mystra never actually died. She was just reduced, and she puporsely let that happen, because the Weave needed to be ''rebooted'' as part of its life-cycle. The ''deaths'' of Eilistraee&Vhaeraun are also uncertain and up in the air, and Ed himself has just posted his version (which he specifically stated to not be official, though) that has both of them agreeing to a plan with Mystra, in order to survive the cataclysms that she had foreseen, and merely becoming diminished and reduced to manifestations for about 110 years, rather than killed. And then reappearing in full power after the Sundering.